Bears continue to hold grip on markets

Bears continued to hold the Indian markets in their grip in the early noon session with Sensex and Nifty posting losses of 130.44 and 50.80 points respectively, amid negative Asian cues and selling in several blue-chip stocks from across various sectors. Offloading of shares by domestic institutional investors also dampened investors’ sentiments. Besides, Metal, IT and TECK were amongst the top losers on the BSE sectoral front, while Nifty Metal, Nifty IT and Nifty PSU Bank were amongst the top losers on the NSE sectoral space. Investors continued to be concerned with SEBI data indicating that the share of foreign portfolio investments (FPI) through participatory notes (P-notes) in domestic capital markets has declined to nine-and-a-half year low of Rs 66,587 crore at the end of October. Market-men paid no heed to a report stating that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has set an ambitious deadline of December-end to implement as many business reforms as possible on the ground so that India could break into the top 50 of the World Bank Ease of Doing Business next year.

On the global front, technology firms led a sell-off across all the Asian counters on fresh concerns about demand for Apple's iPhones, while Japanese car giant Nissan and Mitsubishi plunged on news chairman Carlos Ghosn had been arrested over alleged financial misconduct. Closer home, continuing the cutting spree, the oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Tuesday (November 20) slashed the petrol and diesel rates across cities in the country. While petrol was available at Rs 76.38 per litre, diesel prices were at Rs 71.27 per litre in Delhi.

The BSE Sensex is currently trading at 35644.44, down by 130.44 points or 0.36% after trading in a range of 35612.30 and 35731.67. There were 10 stocks advancing against 21 stocks declining on the index.

The broader indices were trading in red; the BSE Mid cap index fell by 0.26%, while Small cap index was down by 0.18%.

The top gaining sectoral indices on the BSE were Oil & Gas up by 0.50%, Auto up by 0.27%, Industrials up by 0.18%, Capital Goods up by 0.11% and Realty up by 0.07%, while Metal down by 1.59%, IT down by 1.13%, TECK down by 0.97%, Basic Materials down by 0.88% and Consumer Durables was down by 0.71% were the top losing indices on BSE.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Adani Ports up by 1.92%, Indusind Bank up by 1.74%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.24%, Tata Motors up by 1.11% and Coal India up by 0.47%. On the flip side, Yes Bank down by 4.78%, Tata Steel down by 1.68%, Vedanta down by 1.28%, NTPC down by 1.14% and ICICI Bank down by 0.98% were the top losers.

Meanwhile, Commerce and Industry Minister Suresh Prabhu has said that his ministry will soon begin formal consultations with its finance ministry and other ministries to implement the committee's recommendations on revamping special economic zones (SEZs). The Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani-led panel, constituted by the Ministry of Commerce to study existing SEZ policy, submitted its report to the commerce and industry minister.

The objectives of the committee were to evaluate the SEZ policy, make it compatible with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) norms, and suggest measures for maximizing utilisation of vacant land in these zones. The committee has suggested that the success seen by services sectors like IT and ITeS has to be promoted in other sectors such as healthcare, financial services, legal, and design services. It has also recommended several measures, including continuation of tax incentives, migration of SEZs to employment and economic enclaves, and creation of link infrastructure and maintenance for enclaves. 

According to the draft recommendations of the committee, incentives should be linked with employment, investment, technology/innovation, and infrastructure status for these zones to improve access to financing. The SEZ Act, 2005, supported by SEZ rules, came into effect on February 10, 2006. Exports from SEZs grew by about 15 percent to Rs 5.52 lakh crore in 2017-18

The CNX Nifty is currently trading at 10712.60, down by 50.80 points or 0.47% after trading in a range of 10700.90 and 10740.85. There were 16 stocks advancing against 34 stocks declining on the index.

The top gainers on Nifty were Indusind Bank up by 1.79%, Adani Ports up by 1.68%, GAIL India up by 1.49%, Mahindra & Mahindra up by 1.12% and HPCL up by 0.98%. On the flip side, Hindalco down by 4.88%, Yes Bank down by 4.86%, Tech Mahindra down by 3.21%, HCL Tech down by 3.02% and JSW Steel down by 1.86% were the top losers.

All the Asian markets were trading in red; KOSPI decreased 20.23 points or 0.97% to 2,080.33, Shanghai Composite decreased 46.91 points or 1.77% to 2,656.60, Hang Seng decreased 533.430 points or 2.06% to 25,838.57, Taiwan Weighted decreased 84.70 points or 0.87% to 9,743.99, Nikkei 225 decreased 238.04 points or 1.1% to 21,583.12 and Straits Times decreased 37.90 points or 1.25% to 3,027.17.